Canada's Auger-Aliassime powers past Musetti to reach Shanghai Masters quarterfinals

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Italy's Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday.

The 12th-seeded Montreal native closed out the match with consecutive aces after an hour and 25 minutes on the hard court. The victory evened his career record against Musetti at four wins each and ended the Italian's two-match run, which included wins at the 2024 Paris Olympics and this year's Miami Masters.

Auger-Aliassime, 25, will face France's Arthur Rinderknech in the quarters. Rinderknech defeated 15th-seeded Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (5). The Canadian has won both of their previous meetings, earning victories earlier this season in Cincinnati and Mallorca.

Auger-Aliassime finished with six aces to Musetti's three, committed one double fault and won 76 per cent of his first-serve points compared with 59 per cent for Musetti. He converted three of six break chances and didn't drop serve.

He's the last Canadian remaining in Shanghai after Montreal's Gabriel Diallo fell 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (8) to Belgium's Zizou Bergs in the Round of 16 on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, seventh-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia moved on with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Portugal's Nuno Borges. He'll face either American Learner Tien or Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the next round.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka overcame an early scare to beat unseeded Rebecca Sramkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday.

The defending champion has had an amazing run in Wuhan — her record is 18-0 while winning titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024.

The U.S. Open champion Sabalenka broke her 68th-ranked opponent in the opening game of the final set and went on before converting her second match point to win in almost